“You Have Everything Here” – One Month Down

I celebrated my one-month mark in country by trying to avoid work at all costs. There are many people that get sucked into an uneven work/life balance, but here in Afghanistan the military makes it especially easy to work around the clock.

The funny thing is that when you look back on the day you can’t imagine what you actually achieved during those 12 or 14 hours. It’s like there just isn’t anything else to do so I’ll stay at my desk.  If you know me, you know I HATE email though.  Email and laundry just never stop and that has proven true here too. I’m still flooded with email and each one is a tasker – so in reality there is plenty of work to do.

The thing about it is – I’ve learned that if you don’t give your head a break then your work isn’t nearly as good as it could be.  So what did I do today to mark the one month point?

I start my day off with some shopping! Jason cringes when I say I’m going shopping here and I suppose he is absolutely justified in that.  You see we have a few local vendors that come and sell everything from fake Oakley sunglasses to the most intricate carpets you could imagine.  There are bracelets and post cards and all sorts of knickknacks.  The catch is you negotiate the price on everything.

Yesterday I was in the market doing an interview with our friend the carpet vendor (a future blog post) when I spotted a carpet that looked like it was woven just for my mom. The whole carpet captured her so perfectly – so today I went back to buy it. From there I headed over to the temporary market.  Everyone here knows that you need to prepare yourself before you go into the temporary or (soft) market because the vendors will certainly swarm you. And man do they lay it on thick.  I actually spent $20 on a bag of semi-good walnuts and some homemade sweets because a kind little lady roped me in with her smile and pleas.

So needless to say, I supported the local economy all morning long.  Then in the afternoon I actually participated in one of the most incredible experiences. A group of 20 young Afghan women came to participate in a run here on the base as part of a group called “Free To Run.”

This organization was started by a woman with UNAMA (United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan) in 2014 to inspire and empower young women in Afghanistan through running.

The girls who ranged in age from 16 to 28 were so excited to have the opportunity to run in a safe, secure and different place. Many of them ran in head scarves, some in jeans, and none of them had iPods or music devices as they aren’t allowed to bring those here.

We broke into group from girls running a 20k to my group running a 5k.  While we ran the girls described their jobs.

One woman was a magazine editor for a women’s magazine. One women worked for a well-respected NGO (non-government agency). One woman worked as a marketer for an identification system here.  They were incredible. Some spoke very good English and others spoke through other girls translating.

They wanted to take selfies by the flag poles and stop to watch a group of guys playing intense soccer. When we were done running they snacked on bags and bags of candies that someone here had provided and asked about marriage.

They wanted to know if marriage was good. My answer was “as long as you marry the right person.” They wanted to know how you find the right person. I told them “the right person comes along when you stop looking for him.”

As we were running by the flag pole, one of the girls said to me, “You don’t know how much this means to run here where we can go so far without our scarves and in safety. I think you have everything here.”

I smiled at her as internally I thanked her for reminding me of my blessings.  I told her she was right that we had almost everything here, but that we didn’t have our families.

Another woman expressed how it was still all about keeping the women in the home here, cooking and cleaning and the pressure to remain in that role.

As we walked them back to the front gate, one of the girls began to panic as she thought she forgot her head scarf that another girl had picked up for her. The look in her face following the peaceful happiness she had earlier reminded me of just who these women are and where they live. Their courage and their hope and their prayers for the future.